Trans* Youth Protecting Themselves - a community-based study on coping strategies of trans* and non-binary adolescents and young adults

Project period: August to December 2024

Person responsible for the project: Sam Rheindorf

Trans* and non-binary adolescents and young adults face specific challenges in their development that differ from those of their cis peers. These include internal and external coming out processes as well as (depending on the individual trans* path) legal, social and medical transition processes (Krell & Oldemeier, 2015). In addition, trans* and non-binary people are also particularly affected by everyday and recurring experiences of discrimination within the queer spectrum (Heiligers et al., 2023). These socially determined circumstances lead to a higher prevalence of psychological stress symptoms such as depression, anxiety disorders and suicidal thoughts and actions compared to cis adolescents and young adults (Kaproswki et al., 2021; The Trevor Project, 2022). There is therefore an urgent need for competent and affirmative support for young trans* and non-binary people.

Psychotherapeutic professionals are one of the support structures that trans* and non-binary adolescents and young adults in Germany can make use of (or must make use of in the case of medical transition projects). However, there are considerable gaps in care and knowledge and a clear need for psychotherapists to become more aware of the specific needs and life realities of this target group (Heiligers et al., 2023; Pöge et al., 2020). In addition to risk factors and challenges, protective factors, resilience and the resources of queer communities must also be taken into account (Oldemeier & Timmermanns, 2023). The project “Trans* Youth Protecting Themselves” starts here and focuses on coping strategies that young trans* and non-binary people develop in dealing with trans*-specific minority stress.

Coping refers to specific cognitive and behavioral strategies that people use to deal with stress and trauma. Research on resilience in trans* and non-binary communities indicates that coping plays a central role in the development of resilience. In addition to general coping strategies, trans* and non-binary people also use specific coping strategies to deal with trans*-specific minority stress (Johns et al., 2021; Lindley & Budge, 2022; Sherman et al., 2022). In German-speaking countries, there has been a lack of research on trans*-specific coping as a resilience factor. The planned project aims to close this gap, sensitize psychotherapists to the diverse life realities of young trans* and non-binary people and increase the visibility of community resources. An anonymous online survey will be used for this purpose. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 27 who identifies as trans* and/or non-binary can take part. Further information can be found on the flyer.

The study is part of Sam Rheindorf's Master's thesis at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence at the University of Wuppertal. The work is being supervised by Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Kaurin (University of Wuppertal) and Jun.-Prof. Dr. phil. Jan Schürmann-Vengels (University of Witten/Herdecke).

Further information can be found on the flyer. The link to the study is: https://studentische-umfrage.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/697629?lang=de

References

Heiligers, N., Frohn, D., Timmermanns, S., Merz, S. & Moschner, T. (2023). "How are you?" Die Lebenssituation von LSBTQIA* Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen in Bayern.

Johns, M. M., Zamantakis, A., Andrzejewski, J., Boyce, L., Rasberry, C. N. & Jayne, P. E. (2021). Minority Stress, Coping, and Transgender Youth in Schools - Results from the Resilience and Transgender Youth Study. Journal of School Health, 91, 883–893. 10.1111/josh.13086

Kaproswki, D., Fischer, M., Chen, X., Vries, L. de, Kroh, M., Kühne, S., Richter, D. & Zindel, Z. (2021). Geringere Chancen auf ein gesundes Leben für LGBTQI*-Menschen (DIW Wochenbericht Nr. 6). doi.org/10.18723/diw_wb:2021-6-1

Krell, C. & Oldemeier, K. (2015). Coming-Out - und dann…?! Ein DJI-Forschungsprojekt zur Lebenssituation von lesbischen, schwulen, bisexuellen und trans* Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen. Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V. (DJI). www.dji.de/fileadmin/user_upload/bibs2015/DJI_Broschuere_ComingOut.pdf

Lindley, L. & Budge, S. L. (2022). Development and Validation of the Trans and Nonbinary Coping Measure (TNCM): A Measure of Trans and Nonbinary Specific Ways of Coping With Gender-Related Stress. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. dx.doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000618

Oldemeier, K. & Timmermanns, S. (2023). Systematisierung ressourcenorientierter Perspektiven auf die Lebenswelten queerer Menschen. In M. Mittertrainer, K. Oldemeier & B. Thiessen (Hrsg.), Diversität und Diskriminierung: Analysen und Konzepte (S. 181–197). Springer VS. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40316-4_11

Pöge, K., Dennert, G., Koppe, U., Güldenring, A., Matthigack, E. B. & Rommel, A. (2020). Die gesundheitliche Lage von lesbischen, schwulen, bisexuellen sowie trans- und intergeschlechtlichen Menschen. Journal of Health Monitoring, 5(S1), 1–30. dx.doi.org/10.25646/6448

Sherman, A. D. F., Balthazar, M., Klepper, M., Febres-Cordero, S., Valmeekanathan, A., Prakash, D., Cimono, A. N., Wharton, W., Allure, K. & Kelly, U. (2022). Approach and Avoidant Coping Among Black Transgender Women Who Have Experienced Violence: A Qualitative Analysis. Psychological Services, 19(S1), 45–61. doi.org/10.1037/ser0000581

The Trevor Project. (2022). 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/assets/static/trevor01_2022survey_final.pdf